Tapping machine



Een. 17, 1925. 1,525,454

" F. O. ANDREWS Eff AL.

TAPPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 5, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FITTO ENEYS.

Feb. 17. 1925. 1,526,454

F. o. ANDREWS ET VAl.

TAPPING MACHINE Feb, I7, 1925. I 1,526,454

F. O. ANDREWS ET AL TAPPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 5, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 HT Toe/Veys.

Patented Feb. 17', 1925..

FRANKLIN O. ANDREWS AND FRANK W'. TRENN, OF WILLOUGHBY, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO THE ECONOMY ENGINEERING COMPANY, F 1VII-:L0UGHBY, OHIO, A CORPORA- TION or onto.

TAPPING MACHINE.

Application filed August 5, 1922. Serial No. 579,952.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANKLIN O. AN- DREWs and FRANK W. Tennis, both citizens of the United States, residing at Tilloughby, in the State of Uhio, have invented certain new and useful Tmprovements in Tapping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates particularly to machines for providing threads on the interior bores of nuts or other blanks.

In the accompanying drawings is shown one specific structure embodying the inven- V tion. Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a fragment of the mechanism for feeding nuts to the tapper. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a p0rtion of the apparatus for feeding nuts to the tapper. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of a portion of the apparatus for reciprocating the tapper. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the structure shown in Fig. 5 taken on the line 6-6 and Fig. 7 is a detail elevation.

There is a main drive shaft 1 on which beveled gears 2 drive the spindle 3 through intermediate gears 4. i The spindles 3 are provided at their lower ends with chucks 5 which hold taps 6 which cut internal threads in the nut blanks 7. Towards the upper ends of the spindles 3 are discsS on which rest springs 9 which in turn support weight blocks 10 loose on the spindle.

Above these are bea-ring blocks 11 whose positions may be adjusted by a lock nut 12. rYokes 13 engage the bea-ring blocks 11 to raise the spindles, the yokes themselves being pivoted on a transverse rod 14 at the rear of the machine. The yokes fall when the weights 10 cause the spindles to fall. In the yokes 13 are bearing rollers 15 which are engaged by cams 16 loosely mounted about a transverse cam shaft 17. The shaft 17 is driven by a belt 1S from the main shaft 1. On the shaft 17 and within the cams 16 are toothed discs 19 which are adapted to be engaged by spring supported latches 20 and 21 carried by the cams 16 so that the cams 16 may be rotated to raise and lower the spindles 3. The latches 2O and 21 carry pins 22 which are engaged by cam slots 23 in rings 24 loosely mounted on the cams 16. Pins 25 extending from these rings 24 may be engaged by forks 26 piv` oted at 27 at the rear of the machine. The forks 26 are provided at their lower arms with hooks 27a. The forks 26 are normally held in position for the hooks 27"L to engage the pins 25. This is effected by vertical G0 rods 28 having thimbles 29 at their tops on which the forks 26 normally rest. In this position the upper arms 30 of the forks 26 are out of the path of the pins 25. The rods 23 are supported by toggles 31 which 65 are operated by transverse rods 32. lVhen the rods 32 are pulled out as allowed by the stops 33 the toggles 31 are substantially straight and the forks are supported so that the hooks 272L may engage the pins lVhen the rods 32 are pushed inward the toggles 31 collapse and allow the forks 26 to drop so that their upper ends 30 may engage the pins 25. The thimbles 29 are supported on springs 49 so that when the yokes 13 come down bolts 34 carried by the yokes strike the forks 26 and depress them sufliciently to force the hooks 27:L downward from the path of the. pins "When the yokcs 13 rise the springs 49 lift the hooks 27a into the path of the pins 25.

Carried by the yokes 13 are rearwardly and downwardly extending curved rods 35 at the lower ends of which are adjustable blocks 37. Through the blocks 37 pass second vertical rods 33 provided with adjustable stops 39 and 40 above and below the blocks 37. The rods 33 at their lower ends are provided with arms 41 near the rear ends of shafts 42 extending from rear to front of the machine. At their front ends the shafts 42 carry depending arms 43 to which are pivoted blank pushers 44, The arrangement is such that the upward and downward movement of the yokes 13 moving with the spindles 3 reciprocate the .blank pushers 44. Chutes 45 bringl blanks into position to be engaged by the recipro eating blank pushers 44 which feed the blanks one at a time into seats directly under the taps. Adjustable positioning blocks 46 and 47 are provided to insure blanks being properly placed to be threaded by the taps.

It will be understood that the spindles all operate continuously but, as indicated in Fig. 1, they need not be all in the same position. The operation will be described for a single spindle. QWhen the machine is started the spindle will be rotated and since 16 from the cam shar` there isnoA blank inposition under it to be acted upon it will tall immediately to its lowermost position carrying with it the yoke 13. This will cause the bolt 34 to strike the fork 26 and sov depress it against the spring 49 and so tree the pin 25 from the hook 27a. This will allow the latches 2O and 21 to advance and engage the toothed disc 18 which is rotating with the cam shaft 17 (which turns counter clockwise in Fig. 2). This will cause the cam 1G to raise the spindle thus causer will actuete bl:v i pusher la to torce a blank into position to be operated on by the spindle?. Further movement ot the cam 1G will allow the weight 10 to force the rotating spindle down to bperate on the blank. ln the meantime the pin has proceeded to the lowermost point and been engaged by the hook 2i which has been li'tted under the iin'iuenee ot the spring 49. rlhis causes the pins 22 to ride on the cams 21S so a to disengege the cam t. rl`he engagement ot the tap with the blank keeps the spindle from falling tar enough to depress the fork 26. The latches 2O and 2l are oppositely disposed so that one latch may prevent any backlash of the cam 16 which is actuated by the other latch. The spindle can new proceed to operate the tap to properly thread the blank without interference from the cam 16. When the tap goes entirely through the blank the spindle drops suddenly causing a han'nner blow ci the bolt 34 on the yoke 26 to repeat the operation. Blanks thus finished are assembled on the spindle shank and eventually se many blanks are assembled that the spindle will not tall far enough to allow theV yoke-Sto operate the clutch mechanism. lt is now necessary 'for the operator to attend the machine. By pushing in on the rod 32 the 4.1 all@ toggle 31 collapses and lowers the thinibleV 29 a suiiicient distance to disenga ge the pin 25 from the hook 2? and to hold the upper end 30 of the fork in position to engage the pin 25 at the uppermost point in its travel. At this time the cam 16 will be in T he upward movement of the yoke 13 position to hold the spindle 3 initsuppeih most position. The engagement ot' the pin 25 with the upper arm 30 causes the spindle to remain in its uppermost position` in which the tap may be loosened from the spindle and the linished'blanks removed. The tap may then be returned to the spindle and the rod 32 pulled 'forward releasing the pin 25 from the arm 30 andv allowing the operation to proceed as before.

Vile claim as our invention:

1. A spindle, an arm moving with the spindle, a rotary shaft, a cam on the sha-ft and engaging the arm, a clutch betweeny the cam and shaft, Vand means on the arm controlling the clutch.

2. A spindle, an arm moving with the spindle, a rotary shaft, a cam .onthe shaft and engaging the arm, a clutch between the cam and shaft, means on the arm controlling the clutch, and means controlled by the arm to move a bla-nk into operative position 'for the spindle.

3. ln amachine tor tapping nuts, the conibination of a spindle, an arm lmoving with said spindle, a rotary shaitt, a cani on said shaft and adaptedv tol engage said arm to raise said spindle, a clutch between said cam and shaft, resilient means normally holding said clutch Vin its disengaged position, and means on said arm for throwing said clutch into engaging position upon a predetermined downward movement of said spindle.

ll. In a machine :tor tappingnuts, the combination of a spindle, an arm moving with said spindle, a rotary shaft, a cam on said shaft and adapted to engage said arm to raise said spindle, al clutch between said cam and shaft, resilientmeans normally holding said clutch in its disengaged position, means on said arm for throwing said clutch into engaging position upon apredetermined downward movement of said spindle, and means controlled bysaidarm to move ablank into operative position for said spindle.

FRANKLIN OfANDREW'S. FRANK W. TRENN. 

